Melbourne Portrait Group Seminar | Mark Shepheard

Anton Raphael Mengs, ‘Portrait of Don Luis de Borbon’ (c. 1774-77.). National Gallery of Victoria.

Mark Shepheard, ‘A tale of two portraits: Mengs and Don Luis de Borbón’.

The National Gallery of Victoria has recently acquired a superb portrait by Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-79), one of the eighteenth century’s greatest portrait painters. The sitter is the Infante Don Luis de Borbón (1727-85), brother of the Spanish king, Carlos III. Don Luis was a major patron of the arts, employing the cellist and composer Luigi Boccherini, as well as being an early supporter of the young Goya.

Portrait News

Georges Seurat, ‘Young woman powdering herself’, 1889-90. Courtauld Gallery, London.

A hidden self-portrait by Seurat rediscovered

An article by Aviva Burnstock (Head of the Department of Conservation & Technology, Courtauld Institute, London) and Karen Serres (Schroder Foundation Curator of Paintings, Courtauld Institute) in the April edition of The Burlington Magazine reveals a hidden self-portrait by Georges Seurat (1859-91) in his painting Young woman powdering herself of 1889-90.